Bond

Bond

Bond, Carrie Jacobs, 1862-1946, American songwriter, b. Janesville, Wis. A self-taught musician, she composed about 175 songs, both words and music, gave concerts of them, and even published them herself. Eventually the popularity of such songs as I Love You Truly, Just a-Wearyin' for You, and A Perfect Day earned her a fortune.

Bond, George Phillips, 1825-65, American astronomer, b. near Boston, grad. Harvard, 1845. He became the assistant of his father, William Cranch Bond, and in 1859 succeeded him as director of the Harvard College Observatory. Much of his work was done in cooperation with his father. While they were studying Saturn together, George, in 1848, discovered its eighth satellite, Hyperion (which was independently discovered in that same year by the English astronomer William Lassell). His observations led him to reject the previously held theory that the rings of Saturn were of solid structure, though his hypothesis of their being in fluid state was in turn soon discarded. His memoir on the Donati comet of 1858 in the Annals of the Harvard College Observatory, Vol. III, remains one of the most complete descriptions of a great comet that has been written. His revision of his father's work on the Orion nebula was published posthumously. His photographs of the moon created a sensation among astronomers in Europe when taken there in 1851. He was a pioneer in the use of photography in mapping the sky, determining stellar parallax, and measuring double stars. He also used photographs for determining the comparative brightness of the planets.

See E. S. Holden, Memorials of William Cranch Bond and of His Son George Phillips Bond (1897).

Bond, Julian (Horace Julian Bond), 1940-, U.S. civil-rights leader, b. Nashville, Tenn. As a student at Morehouse College, he participated in sit-ins at segregated Atlanta restaurants. He was a founder (1960) of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, serving (1961-65) as its communications director. Elected (1965) to the Georgia assembly, Bond was denied his seat because of his statements opposing the war in Vietnam. Reelected in 1966, he began serving after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld (Dec., 1966) his right to hold office. A state representative until 1974, he then served as a state senator (1975-87). Bond led a group of black delegates to the 1968 Democratic Convention where he challenged the party's unit rule and won representation at the expense of the regular Georgia delegation. In 1986 he lost a Georgia congressional race to John Lewis. In 1998 he became chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He is the author of A Time to Speak, a Time to Act (1972).

Bond, Sir Robert, 1857-1927, Newfoundland political leader. He was educated in England and later entered Newfoundland politics. In 1890, he negotiated a reciprocity agreement between Newfoundland and the United States, but protests from the rest of Canada prevented its ratification. After he became prime minister in 1900, he repurchased the railways and docks from private interests. His ministry was marked by attempts to diversify Newfoundland's economy away from fishing and by disputes over U.S. fishing in provincial waters. Bond's government fell in 1909, and his influence quickly declined. He was knighted in 1901.

Bond, William Cranch, 1789-1859, American astronomer, b. Portland, Maine. He early aided his father in the trades of silversmith and clockmaker in Boston. He soon became an expert in the making of chronometers and by 1812 was fashioning most of the superior ones used by ships sailing out of Boston. He developed a passion for astronomy, and, turning part of his home into an amateur observatory, he devoted all his free time to it. In 1815 he was sent by Harvard College to Europe to visit existing observatories and gather data preliminary to the building of an observatory at Harvard. In 1839 the observatory was founded; Bond supervised its construction and became its first director. In 1847 a 15-in. (37.5 cm) telescope, then matched in size by only one other in the world, was installed. With it, Bond made elaborate studies of sunspots, of the Orion nebula, and of the planet Saturn, publishing his results chiefly in the Annals of the Harvard College Observatory. Together with his son he developed the chronograph for automatically recording the position of stars, and he was a pioneer in the use of the chronometer and the telegraph for determining longitude. He and his son George Phillips Bond made the first practical use in America of Daguerre's photographic process applied to astronomy.

See E. S. Holden, Memorials of William Cranch Bond and of His Son George Phillips Bond (1897).

bond, in finance, usually a formal certificate of indebtedness issued in writing by governments or business corporations in return for loans. It bears interest and promises to pay a certain sum of money to the holder after a definite period, usually 10 to 20 years. Security is usually pledged against a bond; unsecured bonds are regarded as a long-term obligation on the capital of the issuing body. Some bonds are convertible upon maturity into the stock of the issuing company. One method used to retire bonds is the sinking fund; in such a case the issuing body buys back some of its bonds each year and holds them itself, applying the interest to the fund. The entire bond issue, most of which the firm has already acquired, is then retired on maturity. In the case of serial bonds, part of the issue is called in and paid for in full each year. Bonds were sold by the U.S. government to finance both World Wars and are still an important money-raising device. Government bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the government issuing them, including its taxing power, and sometimes also by specifically designated security. Bonds are usually bought by those wishing conservative investment. A junk bond has a risky credit rating because it is issued by companies without an established earnings history or with a questionable credit history. Junk bonds have increasingly been used to help finance the purchase of companies, especially in leveraged buyouts.